moonguardfandomcom-20200213-history
Xivarius Bloodbane
Physical Appearance Standing at a modest five feet and ten inches, Xivarius is not the most imposings in terms of physical stature. Though athletic in build he is lean and wiry as if all the energy in his body is coiled and ready to spring forth at any moment. Carrying himself with the haughty gait of an aristocrat, Xivarius keeps his head high and his face alight with an amused smirk. To accentuate the already nonchalant air that pervades him, he allows his hair to grow in a mildly untamed manner. The goatee on his chin simply adds to the slightly wild and mad look he promotes. In the depths of his eyes one can see naught but calm and collected clarity. The hallmarks of a methodical and careful planner. Despite his outward seemingly arrogant appearance upon close inspection there lay signs of an intelligent master of physical illusion. The Baron always dresses himself in a gentlemanly fashion. Sporting a tophat with a clean tuxedo and vest.The right vest pocket hold in it a silver pocket watch. His shoes are always finely polished and he can be found to be wearing a pair of plain black evening gloves. The oddest accessory in his attire is his cane. Fashioned with a smooth spherical diamond as the knob, the cane is crafted of highly polished black marble.Upon close inspection any observer can see that the diamond swirls with the colors of the visible spectrum. Inscribed along the shaft, winding around the cane from the base to the knob, are a series of bone white runes. Any scholar learned in the arcane script can read them. From the top to the bottom they number thirteen total and are as follows: Hunger, Plague, War, Death, Pain, Anger, Fear, Despair, Hatred, Deception, Madness, Malice and Darkness. It is obvious that this cane is magical in origin. Personality Vain, cunning, intelligent, and as charming as he is ambitious. Baron Bloodbane is a man with little love for anything that does not turn a profit for him in some way. He is always ready to strike a deal but is even more ready to turn on his clients at the first moment that something even more promising comes his way. He made his fortune through the misfortune of others and he wouldn't have it any other way. He considers himself above any and all he comes across in every way. Prone to inhumane displays of cruelty, Baron Bloodbane is not someone the wise would want as an enemy. The Baron does not make friends nor does he enter in lasting alliances. He is a master manipulator and while he rewards those he works with he will just as quickly kill them in cold blood if it works to further his goals. If anything he can be someone who enters agreements of convenience. He keeps to the time honored addage of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" but only so far as it remains advantageous to his own dark purposes. He is a precarious and fickle beast that some deem as mad as a hatter and others simply regards as an evil beyond salvation. History It is said that Darkness is a force we are born with. That inside each and every living soul lies the capacity to do great good and great evil. As with all stories, Xivarius started with his birth. He was not formed from some primordial evil nor infected by an otherworldly dark presence. He was born, from a man and a woman who through their love gave way to him. So it was that Xivarius was brought into the world of Azeroth, a mere boy in a tribal village thousands of years before the rise of any civilized human kingdom. Xivarius remembers his upbringing vividly for it is a time that he looks upon as much simpler, much...happier. The life he lived was difficult as it was not long after the Sundering of the Well of Eternity. His village was located in the southern region of the present day Arathi Highlands. Humans were dangerously close to being wiped out. Trolls hunted his people mercilessly and the ever presents threats of the natural wilderness were all around. While humans had no formal understanding of magical forces there were those rare few who possessed inate albeit wild and untamed talent. Xivarius was one such person. At the time there were no "Starwalkers" as his people called them, in his tribe or any nearby tribe. Xivarius had to figure things out on his own. He spent long hours in quiet meditation as a young man focusing on tapping into his wild magic. Most times the meditation proved unsuccessful but every now and then he found himself capable of performing minor feats of magic. But as it goes with any wanderer walking the corridors of the unknown, he was a danger. To himself and those around him. The magic that Xivarius was able to produce was unfocused and often more destructive than truly helpful. He was forced to delve into the depths of the arcane in seclusion. His powers began expressing themselves in increasingly erratic and explosive ways for he was unable to properly channel the energies inherent in his body and in the world around him. Dark thoughts began to creep into the minds of the people around him. His gifts were becoming a burden and the result of improper use and the inability to understand them were beginning to show on Xivarius. He was growing paranoid as the years crept on. Finally as a middle-aged man his people declared him a menace that had to be exterminated. Fearful the man tried to flee but was cornered. Desperate and cornered...Xivarius released his grip on the energies within himself. He gave himself to the wild powers he had been fighting to contain his whole life, fully and completely. It was a bloodbath. Xivarius does not remember what transpired after what he calls the "single most desperate act in my life". All that he can recall from that encounter was awakening beneath charred ruins and burned corpses. Though he will never know what exactly happened, he knows he is responsible for it and that was enough. Still unable to fully tap into the powers within himself Xivarius became a wanderer and believed he would remain thus until he was finally pulled into the arms of Death....but such was not the fate he was to suffer. Magic attracts magic. It is a principle that is undeniable. Wild magic attracts equally wild and chaotic forces. In Xivarius' case it attracted the highest of chaotic and uncontrollable forces: demons. As he wandered through the lands going from place to place he never remained very long. His paranoia was steadily growing worse. He knew that someone or something was watching him and that the gaze that followed him was far from benevolent. What exactly transpired following his descent into paranoia and madness, even Xivarius does not discuss. In his long life he has only commented once on the nature in which he was finally able to master the powers that haunted him for so long. "I was cursed...and yet...blessed at the same time. I made a pact. An agreement of sorts with another such cursed being. Two became one and that one, is Xivarius. What was my name before? I do not know. Perhaps, I never will..."-Xivarius to a later victim. Xivarius has never hidden the fact that after his long and difficult road down the path of insanity he eventually made a deal with a power beyond the mortal realms. How? That is a tale he keeps to himself. A record chiseled only in the depths of his memories and a story he has shared with no one. Regardless of his origins Xivarius has a long history behind him. One that is written in blood, betrayal, conspiracy and a never ending pursuit for greater power. In his time he has murdered scores of people who have stood in his way for political and personal reasons. He has amassed wealth on the backs of slaves, innocents and lies. Through manipulation and the darkest of sorceries. By the time the Human clans were united under the banner of Arathor, Xivarius was already several thousands of years old and a figure surrounded by black lore and blood but who was regarded as little more than a myth to scare travelers around campfire stories. It was around this time that he took up the surname "Bloodbane". "As mankind grows, the world declines. As we learn, we leave others in ignorance. As we expand, we find ourselves growing few and fewer in number. For what? Even the wisest do not truly know what motivates all of Humanity. Our history is written in blood and as blood soaks the lands we settle I shall be their bane. The herald who shall usher doom upon all men."-Xivarius He has largely remained a figure in the background. A shadow without a name who operates from a distance to achieve his goals. Xivarius has never deeply involved himself with the great heroes of Azeroth. He never knew any of them nor met them face to face. But he did what he deemed was appropriate at the time to further his own goals. He has never truly made allies in his long and bloody history. He has always been one to forge a common pact of convenience. Such as entering the ranks of the Cult of the Damned in order to glean their knowledge from them and vanishing once again into the darkness. Xivarius is as he has always been, a largely nameless figure surrounded by myths and black lore. Recent History For reasons unexplained Xivarius entered an alliance with an organization known only as "The Court". To this end he resurfaced and declared something of a personal war on the Clergy of the Holy Light and its members, even going to far as to murder a few high ranking prelates and capturing a various other members. He was ultimately stopped through the combined efforts of the Clergy and several allies through a brutal show of force in the Raven Hill Cemetery. Presently it would seem he is among the deceased but there are those who believe otherwise... Dicsussion of Runecaster ((Under construction))